Second Life: Repurpose Plant Clippings Into Wall Décor

Flowers as gifts are always sweet, but you often wish you could hold onto the sweet sentiment a bit longer. Repurpose the gift into wall décor by pressing flowers, herbs and other plant clippings to savor them long-term. Read more to find out how easy this project is.

To do this easy project, use a flower press (see photo 2 in the gallery). Or, use any large and heavy book lying around the house like a telephone book, dictionary, or encyclopedia.

Here's the how-to using a large book:

1. Be sure to sandwich the plants between layers of newsprint or paper towels to absorb excess moisture and to protect the pages of your book.2. Do not allow the flowers to touch or overlap in the final pressed position.3. Use plants that are in their peak. Wilted plants yield less attractive results.4. After closing the book, stack heavy books on top to insure flat, even results.5. Wait two or more weeks for completion, depending on the number of plants per page.6. After completion, arrange the plants in a floating or traditional frame to use as wall decor. It may require small dots of glue to hold your layout in place if the pressure of the frame isn't tight enough.

As seen in the photo gallery above, vivid colors make flowers a popular subject for this project. In addition, we think flowerless plants or herbs arranged in a specimen layout is a nice classic look.